Gluten-Free Sandwich Cookies
Edible dirt. And gluten.
And then came a Harry Potter birthday party for my daughter.
Once upon a time, long, long ago, in the land of gluten-eating, I used crushed Oreo's to make edible dirt. I had small, terra cotta pots, each of which contained Dirt Dessert and an candy flower coming out of the pot. This was a dessert I made for an Easter egg decorating dinner with friends. They were cute and yummy.
That may have been the last time I ate any Oreo's. That was when my daughter was a baby.
Fast forward about ten years. I'm now gluten-free and that very same daughter wants a Harry Potter themed birthday party at the roller rink. And she is insisting that she have a cake that I can eat too.
She's so sweet!
If I do a themed birthday party, I do it. I do it all out. If I'm going to do it all out, I'm going to try to give my daughter what she wants. If she wants me to be able to eat cake, then I'm going to try to get her a cake I can eat. If I am going to be able to eat birthday cake, it has to be gluten-free. If it is going to be gluten-free, I'm going to have to make it. If I'm going to make a birthday cake for a themed birthday party, it has to be awesome. If it is going to be awesome, I'm going to do it all out.
Did you follow that?
There are so many options for a homemade Harry Potter cake! We came up with lots of ideas and plain sheet cakes never made the list.
We settled on a Mandrake Cake.
In Harry Potter, a Mandrake is a plant that screams when it is uprooted for transplanting. Hearing this screaming is lethal to a wizard, so transplanting can only be done while wearing hearing protection. But I digress.
Gluten-Free Carrot Cake
The idea we came up with was to use a large terra cotta pot and put gluten-free carrot cake, layered with cream cheese icing in the pot. That would be covered with gluten-free edible dirt. I would make a Mandrake plant out of gum paste (gluten-free!) and put on top of the dirt in the center of the pot.
Here's how it turned out.
That pot is full of gluten-free carrot cake, cream cheese icing, and gluten-free edible dirt!
But then we had the additional idea to make baby mandrakes and put them in a seedling tray. Each cup of the seedling tray contained a gluten-free carrot cake cupcake, iced with cream cheese icing and then covered with gluten-free dirt. Each was topped with a baby mandrake made of marzipan (unfortunately, not gluten-free).
Here they are. Each baby mandrake was made unique and with its own personality, made by my daughter and one of her friends. They had so much fun making these, while I was making the large mandrake.
Can you see the one with the mohawk? How about the one with the afro? The cone head?
It turned out that we served the baby mandrakes first to the kids at the party, and then never needed to cut into the full-size mandrake. I didn't eat a baby mandrake or the full-sized mandrake. But I did eat that gluten-free carrot cake and gluten-free edible dirt! Delicious!
Everybody loved the mandrakes, both baby-sized and full-sized! They were so cute! And the gluten-free carrot cake was delicious according to everyone!
And the gluten-free dirt made it all possible.
These KinniToos are what I used for the gluten-free edible dirt. They taste great!
Even now, my kids love Oreo Cookies. I, personally, could take them or leave them, when I was eating gluten. Nonetheless, now it is hard to watch them love those cookies, knowing I can't have any.
It's really hard to watch.
It's really hard to watch.
Unless, of course, I have some gluten-free ones too.
Sometimes now, if I know the kids are going to have some Oreo's or the like, I will pick up some of these KinniToos. Then we can all eat cookies together, dunking them in milk and licking out the insides. Just like a kid again!
Life is so much more fun when we can share our experiences together. Dunking sandwich cookies is no exception!
Sometimes now, if I know the kids are going to have some Oreo's or the like, I will pick up some of these KinniToos. Then we can all eat cookies together, dunking them in milk and licking out the insides. Just like a kid again!
Life is so much more fun when we can share our experiences together. Dunking sandwich cookies is no exception!
The mandrakes are adorable! They are perfect for birthday parties!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to try these gluten-free sandwich cookies! They sound wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThey look really cute . I would like them for my party at least I could eat them ! Smile! Carol
ReplyDeleteWould you mind if I borrow your mandrake cake image for a flyer. We are doing a contest at our local school and need samples for the kids to look at.
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